The Problem with 100-Calorie Snack Packs

"100-Calorie Snack Packs" are a hot commodity on supermarket shelves right now. No matter what your favorite snack foods are, you can likely find them in these calorie-controlled servings. You can buy a multitude of products such as Lorna Doone Cookie Crisps, Mini Teddy Grahams, Little Debbie, Wheat Thins, Pringles, and more. Sometimes these products are just mini-versions of a popular product. Other products have been revamped. Read this informative article and find out the problems with 100-Calorie Snack Packs!

1. 100-Calorie Snack Packs Cost More Than Buying Full-Size Bags of Snack Foods
Let's start out with the most obvious problem of 100-Calorie Snack Packs- they cost more money. According to an article on http://abcnews.go.com, you can buy a full-size bag of pretzels, for example, and pay 17 cents an ounce. If you divide those pretzels into 100-Calorie Snack Packs, the same pretzels will cost you 40 cents an ounce. That's an increase of over 135 percent!

2. 100-Calorie Snack Packs Aren't Very Nutritious or Filling
Because they are advertised as being low in sugar content, free of trans fat and cholesterol, for example, consumers assume the 100-Calorie Snack Packs are good for them. However, they are still processed snacks that don't contain a lot of fiber. Without a significant amount of fiber, protein and healthy fats- ingredients that help control hunger- 100-Calorie Snack Packs can't fill you up... if you only eat one bag at a sitting, that is.

Not only that, but those shrunken bags don't really contain a lot of pieces. According to a www.nytimes.com article, a 100-Calorie Pack of Pepperidge Farm butter cookies contains approximately 10 pieces about the size of your thumbnail, for example.

3. America Wants to Have Their Cake and Lose Weight Too
In 2005, it was predicted that the Nabisco 100-Calorie Packs line alone would generate about $75 million. Overall sales of the 100-Calorie Snack Packs have exceeded $200 million in the last three years. That shows how fast consumers are snatching these shrunken portions off store shelves.